Wynona Merceris Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by The Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name “Sister” Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954, including a couple of duets with Specialty’s biggest gospel star at the time, Brother Joe May.
Not having too much success on the charts (except for “The Ball Game” (1952), which became one of Specialty’s best selling gospel records), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record “pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues”. Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock & roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself. Despite scoring an R&B hit with “Should I Ever Love Again?” in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music didn’t help Carr much in terms of sales or recognition. Unfortunately she also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in the summer of 1959.
In 1961 Carr signed with Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976.
Carr’s contralto vocals have a sensual, husky quality quite unusual (or even inappropriate) for gospel singers in her day, which made her eventual switch to R&B and rock & roll seem a logical choice in retrospect. The same goes for her idiosyncratic use of metaphors and themes in her gospel songs: Baseball (“The Ball Game”), boxing (“15 Rounds For Jesus”) and a popular TV show (“Dragnet For Jesus”). This penchant for novelty-like songs also shows in Carr’s later R&B repertoire, for instance “Ding Dong Daddy”, “Nursery Rhyme Rock” and “Boppity Bop (Boogity Boog)”.
Carr’s gospel recordings are very much influenced by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, incorporating blues and jazz stylings and already touching on R&B with her take on Roy Brown’s / Wynonie Harris’ “Good Rockin’ Tonight”, entitled “I Heard The News (Jesus Is Coming Again)”. Her early R&B material (for which she is probably best remembered now) was often uptempo, rock & roll-styled and similar in sound to fellow R&B / rock & roll artists on the Specialty roster like Little Richard, Lloyd Price and Larry Williams, with a strong New Orleans-style backbeat and a rich, warm production. Her final Specialty sessions, conducted by Sonny Bono in 1959, cut down on the rock & roll influences.
Both Carr’s gospel and R&B recordings went largely unappreciated during the time they were released, but found a new audience when Specialty Records released two CDs, covering Carr’s entire output on the label and adding previously unreleased material, such as a recording with Rev. C.L. Franklin (father of Aretha Franklin) and his New Bethel Baptist Church Choir in Detroit.
Sister Wynona Carr
Dragnet For Jesus (Specialty SPCD-7016-2, 1992)
Wynona Carr
Jump Jack Jump! (Specialty SPCD-7048-2, 1993)
Please Mr. Jailer
Wynona Carr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Won′t you let my man go free
Please Mr. Jailer
Won't you let my man go free
That night in October
1953
How could he be in Frisco
He was at home with me
Please Mr.Jailer
Won′t you let my man go free
You put him in a death cell
Then you change your mind
Then when you reprived him
You gave him 99
Please Mr. Jailer
Won't you let my man go free
Please Mr. Jailer
Won't you let my man go free
I know that no other
One will ever do
And I know that the answer′s
All up to you
Please Mr. Jailer
Won′t you let my man go free
Been down here so often
You don't even ask my name
And if you keep him here all his life
I′ll be here just the same
Please
Won't you let my man go free
Yeah yeah
Mr. Jailer
Won′t you let my man go free
That night in October
1953
How could he be in Frisco
He was at home with me
Please Mr. Jailer
Let my man go free
Go free
Go free
Go free
Go free
The song "Please Mr. Jailer" by Wynona Carr is a plea to a prison warden or jailer to release the singer's lover from imprisonment. The lyrics suggest that the lover has been wrongly accused of a crime, and the singer is desperate to see him set free. Despite the jailer's repeated refusals to release the lover, the singer continues to plead, asking why her lover is being held when he was with her on the night of the alleged crime.
The song is notable for its catchy melody and upbeat rhythm, which contrasts with the bleak subject matter. The lyrics are a testament to the strength of love and the power of hope, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. The use of repetition in the chorus creates a sense of urgency and desperation, while the verses tell a story of love and loss.
Overall, "Please Mr. Jailer" is a powerful and moving song that has endured for more than half a century. Its message of hope and resilience continues to resonate with audiences around the world, making it a timeless classic of American popular music.
Line by Line Meaning
Please Mr. Jailer
The singer is pleading with the jailer to release her man from prison
Won't you let my man go free
The singer is asking the jailer to release her man from prison
That night in October, 1953
The singer is referencing the specific night her man was arrested
How could he be in Frisco, He was at home with me
The artist is questioning how her man could have been in a different place when she knows he was home with her
You put him in a death cell, Then you change your mind, Then when you reprived him, You gave him 99
The artist is recounting how her man was originally supposed to be executed, then the decision was changed, but he was still given a lengthy prison sentence
I know that no other, One will ever do
The singer is stating that her man is the only one for her and no one else can replace him
And I know that the answer's, All up to you
The singer is acknowledging that the jailer holds all the power when it comes to releasing her man
Been down here so often, You don't even ask my name
The artist is implying that she has visited the jail many times and the jailer no longer bothers to ask for her name
And if you keep him here all his life, I'll be here just the same
The artist is saying that even if her man is imprisoned for life, she will continue to visit him
Go free
The artist is reiterating her plea for her man to be released from prison
Writer(s): Wynona Carr
Contributed by Lucas D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.